To commemorate its founding 25 years ago, PS will be republishing over the coming months a selection of commentaries written since 1994. In the following commentary from 1999, Helmut Kohl offers his reflections on the tenth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall – and pays tribute to the “singular courage” of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.
BERLIN – I learned that the Berlin Wall was falling during an official visit to Poland ten years ago. On the evening of November 9, Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki invited my delegation to a banquet in the former palace of Prince Radziwill. Before we arrived at dinner, the Secretary of the Chancellery, Rudolf Seiters, called from Bonn. He told me that the district chairman of communist East Berlin had suddenly announced temporary regulations permitting travel by private citizens. Permits to visit the West were to be granted to all applicants, even on short notice.
BERLIN – I learned that the Berlin Wall was falling during an official visit to Poland ten years ago. On the evening of November 9, Polish Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki invited my delegation to a banquet in the former palace of Prince Radziwill. Before we arrived at dinner, the Secretary of the Chancellery, Rudolf Seiters, called from Bonn. He told me that the district chairman of communist East Berlin had suddenly announced temporary regulations permitting travel by private citizens. Permits to visit the West were to be granted to all applicants, even on short notice.